Recipe Review: Cilantro Lime Quinoa Bowls

 

Today's post is a review and walkthrough of the Tone It Up (TIU) cilantro lime quinoa bowls from page 109 of the Summer Tone Up Meal Plan. Let's start with the review so you can decide whether you want to try making it before you go through the trouble of planning. Overall I would say it's one of the better Tone It Up recipes. It feels like a healthy substitute for something like a burrito bowl. It's pretty quick once you get a routine down and takes me about 30 minutes. It also doesn't involve any actual cooking, just microwave, chopping, and assembly.

I've made a few edits to the original recipe. The original recipe is very, very heavy on the lime, so I have greatly reduced it. I also usually skip the onion.

Equipment: microwave, cutting board, knife, medium-large bowl, large bowl, strainer or colander, wooden spoon, silicone scraper, a tablespoon, and 2 storage containers.

Shopping List: Since I make this every week, I have two versions of my shopping list. The short list is every week, and the long list is for every other week. I quadruple the recipe to feed 2 people for dinner and 2 people for lunch as leftovers, usually the next day.

    Short List: Weekly

• 1 pack frozen quinoa (recipe calls for 2 cups cooked)
• 1 can black beans (16 oz. lean protein)
• 4 red bell peppers
• 1 tomato (1 cup sliced)
• 1 avocado

    Long List: Every other week

• 1 bunch cilantro (1 cup diced per week)
• 1 jar green salsa (1 cup per week; you could also make your own but I don't bother)
• We skip onions because raw onions upset our digestion, but if you like them, the recipe calls for 2 Tbsp. diced red onions per serving. If you're going to use them, I'd buy a pre-diced box and just use half per week.

    Miscellaneous: Buy if you don't keep it on hand.

• Lime juice in a jar (recipe calls for 1 lime juiced per serving, but I just use 1 splash per 4 servings)
• Salt (1 pinch per serving)
• Pumpkin seeds (2 tbsp. per serving)
  
  

Timing: Given the number of fresh ingredients, it's ideal if you can go the night before you plan to make this, but I've procrastinated much longer before and it's usually fine. The avocado is the most time-sensitive ingredient. The reasons I make this on Wednesday are a) we tend to grocery shop on Tuesdays and b) Shannon usually has a game night on Wednesdays so it helps us out if I cook that night.

Cooking: I usually start this process a little after 5pm, and like I said, it takes me about 30 minutes.

1. Microwave your quinoa from frozen per package instructions.
2. Wash and chop your veggies:
• The whole bunch of cilantro. If this is the 2nd week then you can skip this step because you'll have prepped it last week! [Feel free to do it how you like, but my method is the following: I like to make a water bath with a large bowl and a colander. Place the cilantro in the colander, then fill the large bowl with water. Set the colander in it (or you can put it in first and run water over the cilantro as it fills) and swish it all around with your hands. I do maybe 30 swishes, then lift up the colander, dump the water, and repeat for a total of 3 rounds. Then I just shake it dry and plop it on my cutting board damp. I then just hold my knife with the blade facing the cutting board and move the knife up and down around the giant bunch of cilantro like a lawnmower, rotating the cutting board and smooshing the cilantro back into the center with the back of the knife every time I get to the end. I do this in all 4 directions and that's good enough for me. Then I put the whole thing in a produce saver container to free up cutting board space, minimize bowl usage, and to make it fast to put it away later.]
  
  
  
  
  
• The red bell peppers (they say slice, I say chop unless you love the taste of raw red bell pepper)
• The tomato
3. Empty the bag of quinoa into your medium-large bowl.
4. Add a splash of lime juice from the jar. Starting with this step, I like to stir with a wooden spoon and use a silicone spatula to scrape the bowl each time I add an ingredient. This is not in the recipe so is definitely optional.
5. Add about half of the cilantro, it doesn't need to be exact. Put produce saver with remainder in fridge. Note: if this is your 2nd week, just dump in the rest of the cilantro from the fridge! 
   
6. Add 4 pinches of salt. Even the recipe tells you to toss at this point.
7. Drain, rinse, and add your can of black beans. This is where you could substitute a different lean protein if you like, aiming for about 16 oz for our quadrupled scale. I continue to mix, but the recipe says to "top with," so up to you and your plating preferences, how many servings you're making, etc. The reason I mix is a) I like mixing things and b) it makes leftover day easier vs. having to reassemble/plate a second time. 
8. Slosh in about half the jar of green salsa. Recipe calls for 1/4 cup per serving but I wouldn't bother measuring after the first time to make sure our jars aren't crazy different sizes. If it's the second week, just finish the jar.
9. Add the red bell peppers.
10. Add the tomato. If you're using diced onions, this is your time to add them as well.
11. Add the pumpkin seeds. This I do measure. You want 2 Tbsp. per serving. I frequently forget to buy these, and it's fine without them.
12. Divide into 4 servings, 1 each in 2 bowls and 2 in a storage container.
13. Open your avocado and add 1 side of it to each of the bowls. You could also mix this into the rest of the recipe but it doesn't save as well and I think it's better just to skip it the second day and double up on it the first day.
14. Congrats! You are done. This can honestly sit out for a bit before you serve it if, for example, your spouse is still in game night. I recommend reheating in the microwave when you serve the leftovers. I'd do individual servings in bowls rather than the whole storage container, and I would do about 90 seconds but checking and stirring at 30 second intervals if you're a real perfectionist. Otherwise just do 90 and accept that it'll be a little uneven.

I hope this helps give you some ideas on how to streamline your weeknight meal prep and how to edit the TIU recipes if they are not to your liking! Remember that they are written by a dietician, so they are healthy first and foremost, so sometimes they need a little doctoring to assist with taste.

How I feel after: pretty good after cooking because it's not too strenuous; satisfied after eating, although I definitely have room for dessert after.

Enjoyability: 😸😸😸

Cooperativity: 😸😸😸😸 (standard for eating)

Recommend? Yes, if you're looking for an easy TIU recipe to start with, although I highly recommend following my edits.

Links:

• Original Cilantro Lime Quinoa Bowl recipe